Friday, March 19, 2010
By Laura Vaughn
News Editor
A new Voluntary Drug Testing Program is replacing the previous program and providing substance abuse support to Costa students and their families.
The former drug testing program at Costa was cut by the Manhattan Beach Athletic Foundation at the beginning of the 2009-10 school year. The MBAF funded a certain portion of the program and wanted improvements to be made before it continued its financial support.
“The MBAF terminated the drug testing programs this past fall semester so that we could improve the testing and controls, provide a better test with more security and allow better access for students and parents. We now believe we have made those improvements and look forward to rebuilding the program,” MBAF President Gary Wayland said.
The need for an improved program became apparent due to the problems observed by the MBAF and by PACE advisor Dr. Rocky Wilson.
“There were several problems. For example, students could text their friends if they found out that it was a drug testing day, or students could purposely ditch class to avoid being tested. Under the new program, one of the improvements will be a chaperone system to avoid these issues,” Wilson said.
The new program is facilitated by Wilson and administered by Vin’Ash Coaching, a South Bay company created by Costa alumnus Coleby Lombardo that provides life coaching services to troubled adolescents and their families.
“Dr. Wilson helps facilitate and coordinate the drug testing program on the school campus while Vin’Ash Coaching actually administers the tests and provides support mechanisms after the results come in,” Lombardo said.
Parents will be responsible for signing up their children and will have full discretion about what to do with the testing results. The school never sees the results and there are no punitive measures if a student’s test comes back positive.
“I think that if students are being drug tested, it gives them a reason to say “no” if offered drugs. You might think that the reason for having the program is to catch students who are doing drugs, but it’s actually not,” Principal Julie Ruisinger said.
The new program will test for a wider variety of drugs, provide instant results online through e-mail notifications and offer counseling and support mechanisms for parents and their teens.
“We want to do more than simply notify parents of the testing results because, as a parent, it’s important to know what to do with those results. The new program provides many counseling and support options for this purpose,” Lombardo said.
The fee for enrolling in the new drug testing program is $55 instead of the $40 cost of the prior program. As of now, there are about 15 to 20 students signed up, and program organizers are hoping for a large number of participants at the beginning of next year.
“We are expecting the program to build over time. It’s challenging starting in the middle of the year, but judging from the significant amount of interested parents, we anticipate a lot of forthcoming participation,” Lombardo said.
Sign-ups for the new Voluntary Drug Testing Program are currently available on the MBAF and MCHS website. Creators of the program as well as students think it will have a positive effect.
“In my opinion the new Voluntary Drug Testing Program is a great idea, not only because it helps students stay on track and maintain healthy habits throughout high school, but also because it gives reassurance to parents and eliminates any doubts they may have about their child,” junior Zeena Bhakta said.
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